ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish police said on Wednesday that eighteen people were detained over what they labeled as “provocative” social media posts, adding that over 200 social media accounts had been identified with such posts.
Five of those detained were also brought in front of a judge and sent to prison by the Turkish chief public prosecutor, a press release by the Turkish police said. Authorities say they are cracking down social media accounts which try to incite fear and panic among citizens in the aftermath of Monday’s deadly earthquake that struck 10 provinces southeast of the country.
The statement from the police said that 24 “phishing websites which were prepared to scam the citizens” were shut down and that legal action was initiated against four “social media platforms identifying as official institutions and asked people for money.”
Kurdish news outlet Mezopotamya Agency said on Thursday that their reporter, Mehmet Gules, and an interviewee who was not identified were detained in Diyarbakir (Amed) for criticizing the search and rescue efforts during the interview.
It is unclear whether Gules and the interviewee are among the 18 detained as their identities were not revealed.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu condemned the arrests made. “Either arrest us all, or free the young people and journalists you have arrested overnight. We have got a lot to do,” he tweeted.
On Monday, a 7.8 magnitude struck Turkey and Syria, with the tremor being felt in Erbil, Beirut, and Cairo. Hours later, a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake followed. At least 12,873 people have been killed and 62,937 injured in Turkey, with hundreds still trapped under the rubble.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said in a televised speech that the government was “keeping a note of all the lies and distortions and will open his notebook when the time comes.”
Erdogan also announced a three month state of emergency in the ten provinces affected.
NetBlocks, an international on-partisan group monitoring internet access, reported on Thursday morning that access was being restored in Turkey after restrictions were noted a day before.
"The filtering measure is likely to impact community rescue efforts underway after the series of deadly earthquakes on Monday," the monitor warned.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Omer Fatih Sayan held a virtual meeting with Twitter officials to “remind” the company of its “responsibilities towards disinformation,” Anadolu reported.
The Turkish presidency's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun confirmed this.
The Turkish authorities had a productive meeting with Twitter yesterday.
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) February 9, 2023
We are grateful for Twitter’s cooperation and pledge to support Türkiye’s efforts to combat disinformation. https://t.co/vjQYnfzxIw
